"An important and scholarly work; bringing together much information available heretofore only in scattered sources. Easily readable." — Gerald I. Alexander, F.R.G.S. Cartographer, Map Division, New York Public Library. The first authoritative history of maps and the men who made them. The historical coverage of this volume is immense: from the first two centuries A.D. — Strabo and Ptolemy — through the end of the 19th century, with some discussion of 20th-century developments. 86 illustrations. Extensive notes and bibliography. "Mr. Brown felicitously marries scholarship to narrative and dramatic skill." — Henry Steele Commager.

The number of people who love maps is growing. They are now very popular with the book-buying public. Among many other bits of information, this book reveals how the rules of cartography were drawn up and how people worked out the dimensions of the world.

Jerry Brotton is the presenter of the acclaimed BBC4 series 'Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession'. Here he tells the story of our world through maps. Throughout history, maps have been fundamental in shaping our view of the world, and our place in it. But far from being purely scientific objects, world maps are unavoidably ideological and subjective, intimately bound up with the systems of power and authority of particular times and places. Mapmakers do not simply represent the world, they construct it out of the ideas of their age. In this scintillating book, Jerry Brotton examines the significance of 12 maps - from the mystical representations of ancient history to the satellite-derived imagery of today. He vividly recreates the environments and circumstances in which each of the maps was made, showing how each conveys a highly individual view of the world - whether the Jerusalem-centred Christian perspective of the 14th century Hereford Mappa Mundi or the Peters projection of the 1970s which aimed to give due weight to 'the third world'. Although the way we map our surroundings is once more changing dramatically, Brotton argues that maps today are no more definitive or objective than they have ever been - but that they continue to make arguments and propositions about the world, and to recreate, shape and mediate our view of it. Readers of this book will never look at a map in quite the same way again.

The number of people who love maps is growing. They are now very popular with the book-buying public. Among many other bits of information, this book reveals how the rules of cartography were drawn up and how people worked out the dimensions of the world.

A contemporary follow-up to the groundbreaking Power of Maps, this book takes a fresh look at what maps do, whose interests they serve, and how they can be used in surprising, creative, and radical ways. Denis Wood describes how cartography facilitated the rise of the modern state and how maps continue to embody and project the interests of their creators. He demystifies the hidden assumptions of map making and explores the promises and limitations of diverse counter-mapping practices today. Thought-provoking illustrations include U.S. Geological Survey maps; electoral and transportation maps; and numerous examples of critical cartography, participatory GIS, and map art. The book will be important reading for geographers and others interested in maps and their political uses. It will also serve as a supplemental text in advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses such as Cartography, GIS, Geographic Thought, and History of Geography.

From the crude maps of ancient Babylon to the satellite-fueled precision of Google Maps, cartography has been both a record of dreams and of discoveries. Maps have played midwife to empires, helped win wars, and encouraged humanity to venture beyond boundaries of space and time. Containing numerous maps from the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, Mapping the World tells the story of the philosophers, explorers, artists, and scientists who brought together their skills to produce some of the most intriguing artifacts ever created.